Leaf doctor makes the rounds

Media Contact

Joe Schwartz

Some Android users have been wondering, is there a leaf doctor in the house?

The answer is a resounding yes.

Leaf doctor is a free app developed by Cornell and University of Hawaii at Manoa researchers that analyzes a photograph of a damaged leaf or fruit and quantifies the percentage and severity of disease visible. By downloading this tool to a smart phone, researchers and extension agents can use it conveniently in the field.

The app was first introduced in 2015 on iPhones, iPads and iPods, while the Android version has been in development. Now Samsung, Google and LG phone owners can download the app from Google Play.

Since the app will calculate the percentage of an image that is occupied by a user-specified shade of pixel, it could potentially be used to determine the extent of diseased plant populations from an aerial photograph of a field or it could be programmed to analyze images for ecologists, geographers and biologists.